This may be Apple's least innovative newly released iPod... except for maybe the shuffle, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't buy it.

This iPod is essentially the same as the previous Generation iPod video. The screen is about the same, the controls are the same, and the size of the player is essentially the same (a little smaller and in aluminum).





What then is new about these iPods?

First, and foremost, the whopping hard drives. 80GB is now the smallest size and 160GB is for the power users. This amount of storage is ridiculous, but for anyone looking to create an archive of almost any song they can think of, it's ideal. The next major change comes with the OS inside this bad boy. Apple has upgraded their menu system, but it still does the same stuff. The menu has sort of been built around CoverFlow, that stupid system where you see the album art scrolling around. I personally find this to be a waste of time. As a lot of my digital music does not have cover art, it ends up just being a bunch of blank covers flowing by. The last major change is the battery life. This one gets 5 hours of video or 30 hours of songs in the small version and 7 hours of video and 40 of music in the larger 160GB.

This iPod is a workhorse. You should get it if you hate docking your iPod to your computer and reloading songs with iTunes.

Pros:

-Only new iPod that will hold over 16GB (it's too bad there's nothing between that and 80GB... yet).

-Improved Battery Life.

-Keeps life simple... which is (or at least was) the mantra of iPod.

Cons:

-Coverflow based operating system is not useful, just looks cool at first.

-Price, $249 is a bit much considering that the only major upgrade is a hard drive. The iPod touch is just a bit more money and really introduces some cool new                                                                                                   technology.

-Will not work with many of the accessories you used with your iPod video or other previous iPods.

iPod Classic Interface Video


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUQ2s13X6r4


The menu system (dual screen menu)

The menus in this ipod only cover half the screen, which would be nice, but only if you had any need to see anything else. I consider the dual screen to be a complete waste of time.





Search by spelling

 Pretty useful upgrade. You are going to have a lot of files on this thing, so it actually is good that Apple added a more powerful search system.




Better Battery Life

5 hours of video and 30 of music for the 80GB

7 hours of video and 40 of music for the 160GB





Video

 Not much different from the iPod Video, the quality is marginally better. The only really new thing is that the iPod can now safely play a couple of full length films on one charge. No more being afraid that your iPod is going to die after playing less than one.





New Games

Games include Vortex, Klondike, and iQuiz. These games are all new and sport much improved graphics. Honestly, they re basically the same as what Apple put on previous iPods anyway. I see these as basically a non issue. There will eventually be more to download from iTunes.

I love the look of the new iPod, although the battery life is a bit low for me - i regularally spend twice that on trains too and from work and uni :S
Other than that, i think it's amazing, my mate has one and he was amazed by the quality of the thing, and the space!